Members of the Teamsters Union picket at the LBCT terminal at the Port of Long Beach in support of a strike by port truck drivers. For a second day, port truck drivers and their supporters headed to marine terminals and truck yards to rally against what they say is the misclassification of drivers as independent contractors instead of employees, a practice they said allows the companies to skirt labor laws and avoid paying them fair wages. (Photo by Stephen Carr/Daily Breeze)

WILMINGTON >> The flow of goods through the nation’s two busiest seaports was halted for up to two hours Tuesday when dozens of longshore workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach temporarily walked off the job to honor a strike brought on by port truck drivers.

Three of the ports’ 14 terminals were shut down, creating a backup in the unloading of cargo and of trucks waiting to get into the ports.

Longshore workers had left their jobs at APL and Evergreen terminals at the Port of Los Angeles around 9 a.m. and at LBCT terminal at the Port of Long Beach before 10 a.m. after port truck drivers picketed the terminals, port officials said.

Longshore workers were able to return to work around 11 a.m. after an area arbitrator ruled the strike was against their contract. Their return would not have been possible if the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association had not agreed the day before to extend their previous contract to Friday.

Since May, ILWU and PMA have been negotiating a new contract that covers nearly 20,000 dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports. The last contract expired July 1, but both sides on Monday extended the agreement to Friday. Without that extension, there would have been no mechanism for arbitrating the port truckers’ pickets.

Meanwhile, port truck drivers and their supporters continued picketing Tuesday, targeting trucks from Green Fleet Systems, Total Transportation Services Inc. and Pacific 9 Transportation Inc. to protest what they say is the misclassification of drivers as independent contractors instead of employees, a distinction that allows the companies to avoid following labor laws and paying them fair wages. They added that their checks are often depleted because the cost of fuel and maintenance is taken out of their paychecks, leaving little left for their families.

“Our port truck drivers … collect and distribute all the things that all of us need to live, from the food that we eat to the clothes on our backs,” said Roxana Tynan, executive director of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, an advocacy group that has also supported Los Angeles’ living wage initiative. Tynan emceed Tuesday’s news conference during a rally for port truck drivers at the Wilmington Waterfront Park.

She added that strikes such as this one bring the issue out of the shadows and “show that their truck drivers deserve, like all of us, a fair day’s wage for a hard day’s work.”

The rally of about three dozen drew several unions that represent hotel workers, electrical workers and service employees such as the Teamsters, the Service Employees International Union, UNITE HERE Local 11 and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, many of them pledging their support on the picket lines and nearly $50,000 toward a hardship fund for the port truck drivers.

“Although on the face, our two industries may not be the same, we are really in the same fight,” said Tom Walsh, president of UNITE HERE Local 11, which represents hotel workers.

The three trucking companies have maintained that the strikes are an attempt by the Teamsters to unionize drivers, many of whom prefer to be independent contractors.

“Time and time again every segment of the industry has rejected the efforts of these groups and their agenda,” Alex Cherin, spokesman for the firms, said in a statement Monday.

Truck drivers and their supporters said they will continue to strike truck yards and marine terminals until the three trucking firms meet with them. Today, Grammy winner Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine plans to perform at a terminal to support port truckers.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.